Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones
The Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones , Portuguese Campeonato Sul-Americano de Campeões , German South American championship of champions , was a South American club soccer competition between the master clubs of seven countries in February and March 1948 in Santiago de Chile . The tournament was organized by the Chilean championship club CSD Colo-Colo . The winner and thus the first South American champion was CR Vasco da Gama from Brazil.
In 1996 the South American association CONMEBOL gave the tournament official status and recognized it as the forerunner of the Copa Libertadores . This enabled Vasco da Gama to participate in the Supercopa Sudamericana 1997, a competition between all previous South American champions.
history
Regular supranational club competitions in South America go back to the Copa Comeptencia between clubs from Argentina and Uruguay, which was held for the first time in 1905. This in turn led to the Copa Aldao , a trophy between the master clubs of both countries, which was played more or less regularly from 1913 to the 1950s. For a long time, however, further competitions were unthinkable due to the great distances involved. Even within a few countries, the distances proved too great for national championships. Bolivia and Brazil introduced the first national competition in the late 1950s, Peru only in 1966.
In 1929, the leaders of the Uruguayan top club Nacional Montevideo for the first time had more concrete thoughts on a South American club championship, which resulted in the geography of a potential venue for a tournament in which runners-up were to take part was considered in 1946. It was finally Robinson Alvarez Marín, the president of the top Chilean club Colo-Colo, who invited to a tournament in Santiago , the capital of his home country, at the beginning of 1948.
The tournament, the Campeonato Sudamericano de Campeones , the South American championship of champions was a great success. In the 21 games there were 76 goals and thus 3.62 per game. An average of 39,549 viewers watched the games and generated gross income of 9,493,483 pesos.
Attendees
- CSD Colo-Colo - Chilean champion 1947 and host
- Club Sport Emelec - from Ecuador, invited as there is no national championship yet
- CD Litoral - Champion of the Bolivian capital La Paz from 1947, since no national championship yet
- Deportivo Municipal - Peruvian runner-up in 1947
- Nacional Montevideo - Uruguayan champion 1947
- River Plate - Argentine champion 1947
- CR Vasco da Gama - State Champion of Rio de Janeiro 1947 (undefeated)
Remarks:
- Deportivo Municipal took part in place of the Peruvian champions Atlético Chalaco .
- Vasco da Gama, Master of Rio de Janeiro , was sent as the Brazilian representative because there was no national championship competition. Preference was given to the champions of São Paulo Palmeiras , since the state selection of Rio in 1946 won the Brazilian championship of the state selection teams and was thus considered stronger.
Tournament course
The favorite was the Argentine champions River Plate , who at that time had one of the most outstanding club formations in football history, known as La Maquina . Names like Juan Carlos Muñoz , José Manuel Moreno , Néstor Rossi , Ángel Labruna , Félix Loustau and the rising star Alfredo Di Stéfano still sound good today.
The challenger was the master of Rio de Janeiro Vasco da Gama , who had traveled from Brazil and trained by Flávio Costa , Izidor Kürschner's master student . Led by Augusto and Ely , and with dangerous strikers like Ademir de Menezes , Friaça and the young Francisco “Chico” Aramburu , they were still a blank slate, as no Brazilian team had been able to achieve greater success abroad until then.
Nacional Montevideo , tested for decades in the fight against the best Argentine teams , also raised its hopes . After Nacional had the upper hand in the first game against the Peruvian runner-up Deportivo Municipal just 3-2, the disillusionment followed in the second tournament game against Vasco. When the Cariocas attacked , the Uruguayan star Walter Gómez was able to equalize at short notice, but in the end it was 4-1 for the Brazilians, although their striker Ademir de Menezes was eliminated early with a broken leg - and was thus out for the rest of the tournament.
Nacional saved themselves in the next game against Litoral from the Bolivian capital La Paz with a 3-1 win, and after a clear 3-0 win against the favorites River Plate, hopes of a tournament victory re-emerged. But after a 3-0 win against the hosts Colo-Colo in the following game, their fate was no longer in the hands of the Uruguayans.
After Vasco lost the first point in his penultimate tournament game in a 1-1 draw against the hosts, there was now a quasi final against River on March 14th, which after the defeat against Nacional did not allow itself to slip again, but now needed a win to win the first South American Championship.
On this Sunday evening there was an open, fighting game between the Millonarios from Buenos Aires and the team from Rio, which was preparing to become the legendary Expresso da Vitória . Both goalkeepers - both River's mediocre Hector Grisetti and Moacyr Barbosa , who two years later, arguably wrongly, was blamed for Brazil's defeat in the 1950 World Cup final - were given frequent opportunities to excel. A goal Chico, one of the outstanding players on the pitch, was denied recognition by the Uruguayan referee Nobel Valentini and in the middle of the second half he was knocked out of the field after a tussle with the Argentine Méndez. The game ended goalless, making the Maltese cruisers undefeated as South America's first champions.
Games and final table
|
02/11 | |||
CSD Colo-Colo | 2: 2 | Club Sport Emelec | |
02/14 | |||
CR Vasco da Gama | 2: 1 | CD Litoral | |
02/14 | |||
Nacional Montevideo | 3: 2 | Deportivo Municipal | |
02/18 | |||
River Plate | 4-0 | Club Sport Emelec | |
02/18 | |||
CR Vasco da Gama | 4: 1 | Nacional Montevideo | |
02/21 | |||
River Plate | 2-0 | Deportivo Municipal | |
02/21 | |||
CSD Colo-Colo | 4: 2 | CD Litoral | |
25.02. | |||
Nacional Montevideo | 3: 1 | CD Litoral | |
25.02. | |||
CR Vasco da Gama | 4-0 | Deportivo Municipal | |
28.02. | |||
CR Vasco da Gama | 1-0 | Club Sport Emelec | |
28.02. | |||
Deportivo Municipal | 3: 1 | CSD Colo-Colo | |
03.03. | |||
CD Litoral | 3: 1 | Club Sport Emelec | |
03.03. | |||
Nacional Montevideo | 3-0 | River Plate | |
08.03. | |||
Deportivo Municipal | 4-0 | Club Sport Emelec | |
08.03. | |||
CSD Colo-Colo | 1: 1 | CR Vasco da Gama | |
09.03. | |||
River Plate | 5: 1 | CD Litoral | |
09.03. | |||
CSD Colo-Colo | 3: 2 | Nacional Montevideo | |
14.03. | |||
Nacional Montevideo | 4: 1 | Club Sport Emelec | |
14.03. | |||
CR Vasco da Gama | 0-0 | River Plate | |
17.03. | |||
Deportivo Municipal | 3: 1 | CD Litoral | |
17.03. | |||
River Plate | 1-0 | CSD Colo-Colo |
The decisive game
River Plate | CR Vasco da Gama | ||||||
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Hector Grisetti - Ricardo Vaghi , Francisco Rodríguez - Norberto Yácono (45th Osvaldo Méndez), Néstor Rossi , José Ramos (7th Ferrari) - Reyes (45th Juan Carlos Muñoz ), José Manuel Moreno , Alfredo Di Stéfano , Ángel Labruna , Félix Loustau coach: José María Minella |
Moacyr Barbosa - Augusto , Wilson ( Ramón Rafagnelli ) - Ely , Danilo Alvim , Jorge - Djalma , Maneca , Friaça , Ismael , Chico Trainer: Flávio Costa |
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Expulsion: Méndez 29. (39.?) | Expulsion: Chico 29. (39.?) |
During the tournament, Vasco da Gama also used the following players:
- Fausto Barcheta (gate), Moacir , Nestor , Ademir de Menezes , Dimas , Lelé
Individual evidence
- ↑ La Nación. Volume 8, pages 15-16.
Web links
- Mauro Prais: South American Club Championship 1948 RSSSF , July 11, 2008